So Tim Lincecum is the Cy Young award winner for the National League, and in case you missed the last paragraph of the Associated Press story, allow me to present it here as a public service:

Santana, a two-time AL Cy Young winner with Minnesota, received a $50,000 bonus for finishing third. Sabathia got $75,000 for coming in fifth. Webb’s second-place finish increased the buyout of his $8.5 million 2010 club option by $500,000 to $2 million.

You got that right. Johan Santana gets paaaaid. Brandon Webb gets his buyout sweetened, which really only makes an impact if he gets hurt. And CC Sabathia earns the equivalent of a college professor’s annual salary for a fifth-place finish.

Congratulations to Tim Lincecum on winning the Cy Young Award. It was well-deserved and he won it in a landslide receiving 23 out of 32 first place votes. He also garnered seven 2nd place votes and one for 3rd. Somehow there was one complete moron who left Timmy off his ballot (I’m betting it was a Dodger fan).

…Was Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times. He listed Webb, Lidge and Santana on his ballot.

–Biggest shocker for me: C.C. Sabathia was named on just three of 32 ballots. I wasn’t a Cy voter this year, and if I was, I would have left him off, too. But I really expected C.C. to be more of a Ralph Nader X-factor. Obviously, even if he was, it wouldn’t have affected Lincecum’s first-place finish. His support was broadest, being named on 31 of 32 ballots. I expected that much. But Timmy also dominated with 23 first-place votes, which far exceeded my predictions.

–We’ll have a conference call with Lincecum at noon and they’re making him available at AT&T Park at 2 p.m. He kept downplaying the award all season, insisting it wasn’t something he thought about. It’ll be interesting to see how he reacts. I’m going with sheepishness and humility.

–If you’re a Seattle Mariners fan, this has to hurt.

–Today ends an agonizing wait for Tim’s father, Chris Lincecum. Ordinarily, he’d be busy working and going about life. But his union has been on strike at the Boeing plant in Everett, Wash., for two months now. He’s had a lot of time to fidget over the Cy Young.

Monday was his first day back to work, and Chris wasn’t looking forward to resuming his 40-mile commute each way. I’m guessing it’s a little easier to bear this morning.

Can you imagine what he says when he gets to the parts inventory department? “Hey guys, how was your morning? Traffic OK? Who brought the donuts? Oh, uh, yeah, my kid just won the Cy Young award.”

Tim Lincecum captivated Giants fans like nobody since Barry Bonds. The rest of the baseball world noticed his remarkable season, too.

Lincecum became the second Cy Young award winner in franchise history, running away with what was expected to be a close race in balloting released by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Tuesday.

Lincecum captured 23 of 32 first-place votes and collected 137 votes. Arizona’s Brandon Webb was second with four first-place votes and 73 points; the Mets’ Johan Santana also received four first-place votes and was third with 55 points.

Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge was fourth and C.C. Sabathia, who had a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts following a midseason trade to the Milwaukee Brewers, received the other first-place vote and finished fifth. It was a surprisingly low finish for Sabathia, who was penalized for only spending half the season in the NL.

Lincecum was named on 31 of 32 ballots.

Lincecum (18-5) finished second to Webb’s 22 victories and narrowly lost the ERA title to Santana (2.62 to 2.53), but his 265 strikeouts were the most in the major leagues and his winning percentage was the best in the NL – despite pitching for a fourth-place team.

The Cy Young electorate acknowledged that the Giants were a different team with Lincecum on the mound. They were 22-12 in the games he pitched, and 50-78 otherwise.

Lincecum joins Mike McCormick, who went from spot starter to staff ace while becoming the surprise winner in 1967. Several other Giants pitchers had been runner-up for the award, most recently Jason Schmidt to Dodgers closer Eric Gagne in 2003.

The greatest pitcher in Giants history, Juan Marichal, only received one Cy Young vote in his career – a third-place vote in 1973.

I’m a thousand miles from the GM meetings in Orange County (and a little further away, politically speaking). But while I watch the steady rain fall here in Eugene, a few thoughts on the Giants’ early offseason posturing:

–Biggest news so far: The Giants are among the teams that have expressed interest in Rafael Furcal, the shortstop’s agent told the LA Times. Furcal is seking at least a four-year deal, and while the Dodgers want him back, they are leery of committing long-term to a player who had midseason back surgery.